L.A.’s Animation Is Film festival has unveiled the line-up for this year’s edition of the event (Oct. 17-19), featuring some of the most acclaimed animated features and shorts from around the world. The eighth edition of the prestigious event will feature Mamoro Hosada’s buzzy Scarlet, Annecy winners Arco and Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, as well as L.A. premieres of Lesbian Space Princess, I Am Frankelda, Decorado, Chainsaw Man: The Movie Reze Arc, All You Need Is Kill and the Chinese 2D-animated blockbuster Nobody.
The festival, which takes place at the TLC Chinese Theatre 6 in Hollywood, will also offer “making of” panels about Disney’s Zootopia 2 and Netflix/Sony’s mega-hit KPop Demon Hunters and a special 13th Anniversary 3D screening of LAIKA’s Halloween season favorite ParaNorman— paired with the premiere of a new short The Thrifting (set in the world of ParaNorman). Audiences can also catch a special sneak peek of Phil Johnston’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Twits (Netflix) on a special pre-festival date on Monday, Oct. 13, with the director present.
“It’s with enormous pride that AIF returns in its role as the first opportunity for Los Angeles to experience these essential films on their journey to end-of-year awards and Best-of lists,” says Matt Kaszanek, Director of Animation Is Film. “This carefully curated lineup — featuring new works from animation legends alongside feature film debuts — is a celebration of the medium. It’s wonderful to be home.”
””As a founding partner, we’re proud to see AIF thrive as a landmark event for animation in Los Angeles. Each year, many of the films discovered and celebrated in Annecy find a new audience, confirming the strong bond between our two festivals. Together, we continue to champion animation as an art form that is daring, universal, and endlessly inspiring,” says Mickael Marin, CEO of CITIA.
In Competition
All You Need Is Kill. (dir. Ken’ichiro Akimoto / Japan / West Coast premiere)
Arco. (dir. Ugo Bienvenu / France-United States / L.A. premiere)
ChaO (dir. Yasuhiro Aoki / Japan / U.S. premiere)
Decorado (dir. Alberto Vázquez / Spain / West Coast premiere)
I Am Frankelda (dirs. Arturo & Roy Ambriz / Mexico / USA Premiere)
Lesbian Space Princess (dirs. Emma Hough Hobbs & Leela Varghese / Australia / Los
Angeles premiere)
Little Amelie or The Character of Rain. (dirs. Maïlys Vallade & Liane-Cho Han /
Belgium-France / USA Premiere)
Nobody (dir. Shui Yu / China / US Premiere)
Scarlet (dir. Mamoru Hosoda / Japan / West Coast Premiere)
A Story About Fire (dir. Wenyu Li / China / West Coast Premiere)
Special Screenings & Studio Events
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc (dir. Tatsuya Yoshihara / Japan /
West Coast Premiere)
ParaNorman with the Short The Thrifting (Special 13th Anniversary Screening)
Filmmaker Panel: KPop Demon Hunters. With directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, producer Michelle Wong, production designer Helen Chen and head of character animation Josh Beveridge,
Work-in-Progress Panel: Zootopia 2. With Carrie Liao, head of story.
Work-in-Progress: Pretty Pretty Please I don’t Want to Be A Magical Girl. A pilot preview, with creator Kiana Khansmith, voice actors Anairis Quiñones and Christine
Marie Cabanos, and editor Emily Rifkin.
Pre-Festival Preview: The Twits (dir. Phil Johnston / USA)
With writer-director-producer Phil Johnston
Shorts Program 1
Éiru (Ireland, Giovanna Ferrari)
Forevergreen (U.S., Nathan Engelhardt, Jeremy Spears)
Cardboard (U.K., J.P. Vine)
Versa (U.S., Malcon Pierce)
Snow Bear (U.S., Aaron Blaise)
Shorts Program 2
Autokar (Poland/Belgium, Sylwia Szkiłądź)
Comi si la Tierra se las Hubiera Tragado (Mexico/France, Natalia Leon)
Gigi (France, Cynthia Calvi)
The Night Boots (France, Pierre-Luc Granjon)
Playing God (Italy/France, Matteo Burani)
Retirement Plan (Ireland, John Kelly)
Shadows (France/Jordan, Rand Beiruty)
The Best of Annecy/Women in Animation
Afterglow (Hungary; Sophia Belleli, Lazarine Biaud, Joyanne Marquetant, Sarah Remane,
Yann Tournois)
Hairy Legs (Canada, Andrea Dorfman)
Ovary Acting (Norway/Sweden/U.K., Ida Melum)
Safo (Brazil, Rosana Urbes)
Sulaimani (France, Vinnie Ann Bose)
Murmuration (Belgium/The Netherlands; Janneke Swinkels, Tim Frijsinger)
Student Shorts Showcase
A collection of new shorts from the next generation of filmmakers from California Institute of the Arts, University of Southern California, California State University Long Beach, California State University Fullerton and ArtCenter College of Design.
AIF is produced by GKIDS in partnership with the Annecy International Animation Film Tickets are currently on sale at AnimationIsFilm.com.
Watch the trailer below:
